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Big Sur bluetooth problems

Since updating to Big Sur I'm having trouble with my bluetooth devices. They (mostly) connect OK, but I cannot play sound to my bluetooth speakers or headphones. The issue occurs on both of the Macs that I have updated so far.


Any advice?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 2:50 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 23, 2020 1:21 PM

Have you tried this?


  • Open Terminal app
  • Type in: sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  • Restart your iMac


I was having a **** of a time fixing this problem, then stumbled upon the above solution and have been all good ever since.

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Dec 5, 2020 6:44 AM in response to Pier788

I've posted this a few times already, but it may have gotten lost in the mix. If you're unable to locate and delete the "HAL" plugin folder (sometimes it's hidden from view), try this:


  • Open Terminal app
  • Type in: sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  • Restart your iMac


That worked for me and many other folks with similar problems. Hopefully it works for you too!

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Nov 20, 2020 4:55 AM in response to sof_gun

Thank you very much, this solved the problem on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.


Here is what I did:


  1. Open a folder window and in the "Go" menu from the toolbar at the top of the screen click on "Go to Folder..."
  2. When prompted enter the following: /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  3. You will be taken to the "HAL" folder in Finder, which in my case contained only one subfolder, called "InstantOn.driver". Delete this folder, entering your password as confirmation when prompted.
  4. Restart your Mac and hopefully everything will now work fine.


Poor show, Apple!



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Nov 15, 2020 9:06 PM in response to hert1910

Similar situation here. Installed Big Sur on my iMac (2017) and MacBook Pro (2020). Everything works fine on the MacBook, but my iMac keeps dropping the connection to my bluetooth headphones and won't play sound through them at all. I've tried every possible fix I've seen online, and nothing's worked. Super frustrating. What's going on, Apple??

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Nov 18, 2020 1:58 PM in response to hert1910

I use a logitech MX Keys and MX Master 3 keyboard and mouse. While joining the beta program for several months, I did not have this issue at all. But after the formal release, I thought, new range, let's give my MacBook Pro (2017) a fresh clean install. Since then, only troubles with bluetooth. It connects, freezes, connects, freezes, very annoying.

From one side, I'm happy, that I'm not the only one, so it is not sudden a HW failure, but on the other hand, many people are getting frustrated now. I hope apple soon comes with a fix for this.

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Nov 18, 2020 4:13 PM in response to hert1910

Same issue here too! My AirPods and Beats will connect, then immediately disconnect. After spending an hour on the phone with Apple, I saw these posts and told them it was software and I would wait for the software patch. It amazes me how something like this could occur. Maybe they shouldn't update so often!! We all update and by the time it runs well, it's time for the next one! There was a time you didn't release a new version unless it was better than the previous version! Now we just say, it's new.

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Mar 25, 2021 9:14 AM in response to Bubati

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252326335?answerId=254836773022#254836773022


from

User profile for user: philmebee



Bingo!

My BeoPlay A1 speaker would not play when it was Bluetooth selected (Macbook Air 2020)

I spent months on-and-off trying to work it out and thought I would go out of my mind that my quite expensive and good quality third party speaker wasn't going to work for my movie selection etc.....


I finally figured that as well as connecting to bluetooth

you also must open System Preferences/Sound and select the device.


I think this used to be an automatic selection when you connected to bluetooth previously, but not since Big Sur.

So connect bluetooth to your device, then open Sound and select the device


(From my elated testing today I think the computer might remember my selection and do it automatically now when I select my bluetooth device from the menubar)

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Dec 8, 2020 10:45 PM in response to hert1910

Other things to try since this always happens to me when I update the OS:


  • kill coreaudiod - run the following in terminal

sudo kill -9 `ps ax | grep 'coreaudiod' | grep -v grep | awk '{print $1}'`

  • Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  • Shift-Option click the bluetooth menu bar, then click "Reset the Bluetooth module"


deleting the plist file worked for me the first time this issue happened when updating to Catalina, but the last two times I ran into this issue, killing coreaudiod has worked for me.

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Dec 18, 2020 7:04 AM in response to hert1910

hert1910, could you change the "Solved" post for this thread to what I'm posting below? Finding and deleting the plugins folder doesn't always work, because that folder is sometimes hidden from the user. The following solution, however, has worked for many people, and I think it will be more effective for everyone:


  • Open Terminal app
  • Type in: sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  • Restart your iMac


Thanks.

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Dec 20, 2020 11:04 AM in response to Sillybugs

Thanks you so much. I found the "Go" button.

I followed below instructions, which I found in the discussions about this issue:


Thank you very much, this solved the problem on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.


Here is what I did:


  1. Open a folder window and in the "Go" menu from the toolbar at the top of the screen click on "Go to Folder..."
  2. When prompted enter the following: /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  3. You will be taken to the "HAL" folder in Finder, which in my case contained only one subfolder, called "InstantOn.driver". Delete this folder, entering your password as confirmation when prompted.
  4. Restart your Mac and hopefully everything will now work fine.


unfortunately it did not work.

Is somebody from Apple reading these discussions? They should come put with an answer/solution!!

Marinus


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Dec 25, 2020 12:21 PM in response to marinus257


  1. Open a folder window and in the "Go" menu from the toolbar at the top of the screen click on "Go to Folder..."
  2. When prompted enter the following: /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
  3. You will be taken to the "HAL" folder in Finder, which in my case contained only one subfolder, called "InstantOn.driver". Delete this folder, entering your password as confirmation when prompted.
  4. Restart your Mac and hopefully everything will now work fine.


Reply

Dec 26, 2020 9:50 PM in response to joost_vos

Here is what I got working. AirPods Pro. System preferences->Sound->


  1. Keep it open
  2. Set “Input” to Airpods
  3. Keep “Sound effects” set to “Internal Speakers”
  4. Set “Output” to “AirPod Pro”
  5. Keep “Input” tab open set to AirPod Pro. Important that “Input” tab is open and selected.


no loss of sound if on 5. with “Sound” open. Not a permanent fix yet sound stays without intermittently pausing on and off.


it looks like Apple did not account for no spatial audio or spatial audio on non-M1 laptops and only pushed the Sur update for AirPod Max on both M1 and Intel chip laptops. Slyly. Looks like a top management decision to push people to buy AirPod Max during pandemic. Hope all other headphone manufacturers update firmware or sue(r) Apple.

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Feb 14, 2021 3:09 PM in response to hert1910

Yep, I've been using my brand new MacBook Air M1 with my Sony WH-1000MX3 headphones. I do the same thing 3 or 4 days a week: sit on the same corner of my couch, fire up the same apps on the same computer, and listen to a lecture and do some work.


Immediately after upgrading and restarting, my headphones connect (the Sony lady says in my ears "Bluetooth Connected" but no sounds comes out, and after 5-10 seconds it disconnects again. Restarted headset and laptop.


Guess I'll try deleting some files because someone on the internet said it works and I'll hope it doesn't break my laptop somehow.


C'mon Apple. This is lame. I'm already looking into 3rd party software to overcome your terrible windows tiling options/user experience, and now you've crippled my workflow. This is a work device, and the goal was for it to work right without distractions.


Update: I could not find the file, either by searching, finding my "Library" folder, etc. Luckily I found the other comment that gives the commands to put into the console, and it DID work.


(sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/

– Restart your Mac)


So yeah, all I really had to do was use superuser commands to remove files from my computer and trust that it would work! Great experience, would recommend!




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Nov 16, 2020 10:04 AM in response to hert1910

Well... at least I'm not the only one. I have two bluetooth speakers and neither work.


I'm hoping that if a solution gets posted here I'll be updated. Hopefully whoever dropped the ball at Apple with this one will get it sorted quickly. As with the others here I've tried every trick posted with no results.


Hope you find a solution soon!

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Big Sur bluetooth problems

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